Press Releases

Zillow.com™ Launches Beta Real Estate Site: Valuations and Data on More Than 60 Million Homes in America - for Free

Beta is First Step in Zillow.com's Goal to Empower Consumers With Tools and Information to Transform How They Buy and Sell Homes

Feb 8, 2006

SEATTLE, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Zillow.com today announced the launch of its beta real estate site, offering free, unbiased valuations on more than 40 million homes across the United States, with data on an additional 20 million homes. This includes most homes in the country, not just those for sale. All consumers need to do is enter an address.

In addition to finding a valuation, or Zestimate™ value for homes, consumers can access and view -- for free -- an enormous amount of information on individual homes, including:

-- Historical value changes for each home, charted over the past year,
five years or ten years.
-- Historical value changes for each home as compared to its surrounding
zip code, city, state or the entire U.S.
-- All comparable home sales in an area.
-- Satellite, aerial and parcel views of many homes.
-- Individual home data, such as number of bedrooms/bathrooms, square
footage, lot size, stories and year built.

Finding this information on Zillow.com is free, and does not require anyone to enter any personal information.

"Until now, finding out a current market value of any home -- whether it's yours or one you want to bid on -- has been quite difficult," said Rich Barton, Zillow chairman and CEO. "We believe you shouldn't need a computer science degree or a real estate license to find out what a home is worth. That's why we created Zestimate values, providing free and instant valuations for millions of homes in America. This beta is just the beginning... Zillow will continue adding tools and services to empower consumers to make smarter real estate decisions."

Zestimate values are updated daily, allowing homeowners to track the value of their largest investment, and giving both buyers and sellers an updated view of the real estate market and individual homes.

Additionally, Zillow's My Zestimator™ tool allows users to refine the value of a home for their own use, based on changes or additions to that home. For example, a seller with a recently remodeled kitchen can refine her value based on this change. Zillow calculates the remodel value for her area based on local remodel data and depreciation.

Zillow's business is advertising-based. Zillow's consumer offering provides a platform for agents and related real estate providers to advertise their services to consumers who are serious about the home buying and selling process.

Zillow.com launched its beta service in February 2006, with the goal of empowering consumers with tools and information to transform how they buy and sell homes. Zillow was started by a group of Internet veterans, including Expedia founder and former CEO Rich Barton and former Expedia Senior Vice President Lloyd Frink. Located in Seattle, Zillow raised $32 million in funding from two leading venture capital firms, Benchmark Capital and Technology Crossover Venture (TCV), as well as employees, directors and private investors.

NOTE: Zillow.com™, Zestimate™ and Zestimator™ are all trademarks of Zillow, Inc.